Have ever been 100% happy with something you built [Archive]

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Richard Cordery

10-14-2009, 7:34 PM

Myk Rian

10-14-2009, 7:38 PM

Everything has a flaw, even the Hubble telescope.

Rich Engelhardt

10-14-2009, 7:43 PM

Hello,
Nope - I consider it part of the learning process.
No one should ever be 100% satisfied w/anything they do.

Perfection is for gods, not mere mortals.

It's what drives us to excel.

W/out the challenge, what's the point?

Dave Sharpe

10-14-2009, 7:48 PM

I have the same problem - and I compound it by being compelled to point out the flaws to everyone who looks at my work! I'm sure there's a name for this syndrome somewhere.

On the other hand, after a few years go by, I can look at a piece and forget the flaws and enjoy the durability of the piece.

Cary Falk

10-14-2009, 7:49 PM

Nope. I'm so disgusted with the current project, I am considering giving up the hobby all together.

Mike Henderson

10-14-2009, 7:50 PM

My next project is going to be perfect.

Mike

Chris Tsutsui

10-14-2009, 7:59 PM

Flaws give a piece character and create conversation.

Paul Ryan

10-14-2009, 8:01 PM

Thank heavens, I thought I was the only one that screwed something up on every darn thing I make. Usually they are so small that no one else knows unless I tell them. But they drive me nuts. My boy's bed turned out almost perfect, but, there is always that but.

Jacob Mac

10-14-2009, 8:05 PM

Not yet. Next time.:rolleyes:

Brian Kent

10-14-2009, 8:09 PM

In a direct answer to your question, Yes, there are a couple of pieces I have been 100% happy with. They are far from perfect, flawless, or what I want to do in the future, but I am 100% happy with them.

A perfect pencil is one that writes and erases when I move it around on a piece of paper. Doesn't matter if I chewed on the yellow paint in class.

Brian

Bill Arnold

10-14-2009, 8:35 PM

I've built many projects with which I was very satisfied. I'd have to say I'm 100% pleased with the results on several of them. Are they "perfect"? Nope. Am I gonna point out any imperfections I know are there? Nope. Will anyone else see the imperfections? Hmmm.....

LOML is my favorite critic. She knows I expect her to point out what she sees in any project, good and bad. There are times I've seen something so much that I don't "see" it any more. She'll run her hands over it and point out a dimple and I'll fix it.

Although several of my projects have won top honors in juried exhibitions, I can point out imperfections in each of them.

Gary Herrmann

10-14-2009, 8:58 PM

No. I doubt I ever will be, but that's ok.

I will say that my wife is 100% more satisfied now that I've learned to not point out what I think I could have done better... :rolleyes:

Faust M. Ruggiero

10-14-2009, 9:06 PM

My imperfections are only that at the moment I make them. Seconds later, they are part of the design so all my work can be perfect.
fmr

Robert Parrish

10-14-2009, 9:13 PM

No, nothing is every 100% perfect. If I don't like the way a project is turning out I trash it (but save the wood) and start over.

Adam Strong

10-14-2009, 9:18 PM

no... perfectionism prevents it. But my customers are, that's all I am concerned with.

Brian Ashton

10-14-2009, 9:27 PM

It can be difficult to attain "perfection" But your level of perfection may be different to mine. For me perfection contains a few flaws. The sorts of things you find with hand made items as opposed to those made by machines.

I think the key ingredient to making something that you will say is, at least, close to perfection is to not be in a hurry and don't take short cuts. When I make something that I set out to do well I will start it and then put it aside for a while to give myself time to ponder how it's going. E.g. If I'm turning something on the lathe I will take it to a point were I can still back out of or change the direction I'm going. I will then, leaving the piece mounted on the chuck, take it into the house and just hold, and look at it for what can be weeks, while I'm doing something like watching TV or playing scrabble with the wife. I may not even pick it up for days. If after a satisfactory time I'm happy with where the piece is I will finish it. Even after I've finished it I will leave it mounted and again take time to just look at it and feel it to make sure there are no flaws in the finish.

Often it takes time for the blinders to fall away from your eyes on projects you have a vested interest in and you will often, for what ever reason, not see the flaws. When those blinders have been removed it can be quite surprising what you find. You have to be willing to see the mistakes though.

At present I have a project that has been on the go for about 13 months. It's a chippendale style tilt top pie crust table. I got hung up on what I would carve on the knees of the legs for about 5 months - jsust couldn't think of something for the longest time. I had many alternative designs drawn up for the carving but nothing that said "that's it". So I waited, and waited. I brought the parts into the house. Sometimes it would sit there all put together and I'd just look at it during commercial breaks and other times I'd hold the leg in my hand while doing something else... Then finally I drew something that fit. I'm glad I had the determination to resist settling for an alternative design because i know if I didn't the knee carving would have been a focal point for me for many years after with me saying it still doesn't look right.

I learned from when I made my first chippendale desk around 20 years ago. The ball in claw feet still bother me a great deal. All because I rushed the project. I was so excited by the progress I was making I wanted to get it done. They're the ugliest feet I've ever seen let alone made. I'm actually planning how I will do radical surgery on them to reverse the very poor design choice. People love the desk but all I see are the ugly feet.

David DeCristoforo

10-14-2009, 9:28 PM

One of the facts we have to be willing to accept as "artisans" is that perfection does not exist. It is something we are compelled to strive for but never achieve. I have always subscribed to the idea that I should never be one hundred percent satisfied with my work. That I should always strive to improve. That total satisfaction would be the end of growth. So I would say "No" I have never been one hundred percent satisfied. But I have been satisfied with the thought that a particular piece represented my best work to date. That I did as good a job as I was capable of at that time but that there was still room to improve.

Harold Burrell

10-14-2009, 9:52 PM

I will say that my wife is 100% more satisfied now that I've learned to not point out what I think I could have done better... :rolleyes:

Wow. That might be the greatest woodworking tip I've ever come across!

Brian Ashton

10-14-2009, 9:54 PM

Nope. I'm so disgusted with the current project, I am considering giving up the hobby all together.

Have wanted to give up woodworking many times over the years - can't seem to do it though. Smashed a lot of projects to bits and started again also. Was so pissed off with one project I threw it through a window :D. Too tired now to get that wound up anymore :D.

Larry Edgerton

10-14-2009, 9:59 PM

One of the facts we have to be willing to accept as "artisans" is that perfection does not exist. It is something we are compelled to strive for but never achieve. I have always subscribed to the idea that I should never be one hundred percent satisfied with my work. That I should always strive to improve. That total satisfaction would be the end of growth. So I would say "No" I have never been one hundred percent satisfied. But I have been satisfied in with the thought that a particular piece represented my best work to date. That I did as good a job as I was capable of at that time but that there was still room to improve.

Well spoken! I feel the same, I just could not put it so well. Thanks.

David DeCristoforo

10-14-2009, 10:07 PM

"...one project I threw it through a window..."

Boy, do I know that feeling! Years ago when my shop was in my garage, I had a neighbor who used to keep one eye on my door. As soon as he saw something come flying out into the driveway, he would hustle up there because he knew that, whatever it was, whatever it's state of completion, he could have right then and there it if only he was able to get to it before I came out with an eight pound sledge.

Kent A Bathurst

10-14-2009, 10:26 PM

No, Grasshopper - while others may see a thing of perfect beauty, you will always see the flaws within yourself.

AND within that flippin' tenon you had to patch and recut twice - no one will ever know its there. No one except you.

george wilson

10-14-2009, 10:30 PM

Always striving to do better improves us. For furniture,if my wife is happy,it's perfect!!

David DeCristoforo

10-14-2009, 10:33 PM

"...if my wife is happy,it's perfect!!..."

I like that, George. I have always felt that the only person who really has to be happy is the person who's name is on the check. Kinda the same idea....

Neal Clayton

10-15-2009, 2:48 AM

it's not possible in this form of art, since the material is flawed. there are no perfect boards. you can cut everything perfectly, and next day all the pieces that comprise something can be different from how you cut them, simply due to the weather.

the best you can do is apply "best practices" and hone your problem solving and forethought/concentration skills to the point of making everything salvageable at worst, 'good enough' at best.

Thomas Pender

10-15-2009, 8:55 AM

Some of the stuff I have made "pleases" me a few years later. None of it is perfect, nor do I expect it to be. Like the others, I keep trying. If we do not try and make it perfect, what standard could we work to??

Right now I am trying to make something close to perfect and I have thrown out some wood in the process. But, as I get further down the line, I realize there is not enough wood for me to make something perfect:o.

This being said, never point out defects to SWMBO. It might get in the way of your next tool purchase. :D

Mike Cruz

10-15-2009, 9:03 AM

+1 for Brian Kent's logic.

Mike Cruz

10-15-2009, 9:14 AM

Besides, I think you guys are missing the point. The OP didn't ask if make perfect stuff. He asked if you are ever 100% satisfied with what you make. You can make something that is 90% "perfect", but be 100% satisfied with it. Maybe because it was the first time you did it. Or it was way past your abilities...or so you thought.

Satisfaction and perfection are two different things. So to those who said "nothing is ever perfect" rethink you answer and please repost.

Now, if you are such a perfectonist that satisfaction and perfection are synonomous... well, I feel sorry for you, because you are right... nothing is ever PERFECT, and that means you will never be satisfied/happy.

To me satisfaction, 100% or otherwise comes from accomplishment and result.

So to answer your question. Yes I have. Have they been PERFECT, no. But that isn't what you asked. And while I consider myself a bit of a perfectionist, flaws can create charicter not dissatisfaction.

Screwing up causes dissatisfaction!!!!!!!!!!

Mike Wilkins

10-15-2009, 9:17 AM

Never satisfied. This is the path to perfection, which is only a goal, never to be obtained. Every project I have ever constructed, either furniture or something inside the home, I can find room for improvement.

Prashun Patel

10-15-2009, 9:21 AM

The day I'm 100% satisfied, I'll hang up my tools for good.

Cary Falk

10-15-2009, 9:27 AM

Well if you put it that way, the answer is still never 100% satisfied.

Kevin Godshall

10-15-2009, 3:59 PM

I had a 100% perfect project once.

And then I put down the pencil and paper and headed out to the shop...............

Rod Sheridan

10-15-2009, 4:51 PM

No, however I do learn from every project, and so far they've been improving so I'm on the right track.........Rod.

daniel lane

10-15-2009, 5:19 PM

Well, I was about to say, "my son", but I had help making him. Plus, he's only 8 months, so I'm certain my satisfaction level will change in the future. :D

daniel

Dennis McGarry

10-15-2009, 5:46 PM

Lets see, decided to have the perfect project...

Created Daughter Number 1, well that one on reflection was near perfect but was missing something, back the drawing board...

Created Son Number 1, this time desgin was right and form was near perfection, but function left a little to be desired.. so....

Created Daughter Number 2, Ahh now as perfect as she looks on the outside, when set next to Son 1 and Daughter 1, appreant "mishaps" are showing up.....

Created Son 2, WOW, now what looks good on paper..... well you get the idea. Wife then said "Enough! Go buy a tool and build something, Anything!"

:)

Phil Harding

10-15-2009, 5:46 PM

I have built lots of things furniture shelving decks additions reno rooms on and on but I can allways fined fault with my own work. Tell me boys (girls too just a figure of speech) will I ever find perfection Yoda. It allways seems I get rushed at some point in time and see that spot later.

Nope, never built anything that I consider perfect and don't expect that I ever will. But, I do enjoy the quest for perfection. My greatest expectation is to not make the same mistake more than a few dozen times.:D

-- Phil

Keith Christopher

10-15-2009, 6:16 PM

I am typically 100% satisfied with a finished project, but I always remember things I will strive to do better next time. But I won't call it finished unless I am 100% satisfied with a project.

Dan Manning

10-15-2009, 6:22 PM

Finished building a solid mahogany electric guitar, (my first), and I was not really happy/satisfied/wanted to make it better...My friend and I put it together and they say it sounds Great! Well, I'm happy with that, they love it and I gain the experience of doing something that someone appreciates and will last. My next task is to try and not make me happy, (though working in the shop does already,) but think of the end result on the wall, etc. I am my worst critic.

Brian Smith3

10-15-2009, 6:47 PM

To answer the question, no I've never built anything that I thought was 100% perfect. There's always something, if not, the wood will move (which is actually worse because you make something you think is almost perfect and then it moves).

My high school shop teacher gave me a piece of advice that I still use today. He said "Once you build it and finish it, just shut up about it." Which is to say don't go around pointing all the flaws and mistakes you made building the darn thing because THEY won't know until YOU point it out.

Whenever he had an open house it would drive him crazy when all the kids would only talk about the mistakes they made, and how they messed up the pattern here and there. He would say to us the next day, "Why did you guys point that out, why didn't you just shut up about it and let them enjoy the project? They don't care." So as when I start thinking about the mistakes I made on a project I say to myself "Why don't you just shut up about that, and let someone enjoy the project." I find this really helps. :D

Bruce Page

10-15-2009, 7:38 PM

I have made many “perfect” parts & assemblies out of metal when I was a machinist but I have never made the perfect woodworking piece.
Don’t think I ever will.

george wilson

10-15-2009, 8:09 PM

If you guys have seen the pictures I posted,you will see that I hardly ever make furniture. If I do,it's to please my wife. So,I can say if she's happy with it it's perfect. Other projects have to be more perfect!!

Wayne Watling

10-15-2009, 10:40 PM

I'm surprised that so many are so unhappy with their work...:eek:

"Have you ever been 100% happy with something you built ?"

To specifically answer that question: yes, I have completed at least 4 projects that I'm 100% happy with. I can think of 2 others that I'm about 70/80% happy with. I do tend to take a long time in the planning stage of my projects as well as the execution.

Wayne

david kramer

10-16-2009, 11:49 PM

I've never built a "perfect" piece. Even if it's just the finish that has a blemish, there's always something. Once in a very great while I'll mess something up so badly that I'll toss it into the fireplace. But almost all oopsies are fixable to the point where they're not a problem.

I've found that if I don't tell anyone about the imperfections they don't notice them (or are too polite to say so :)). And if I come back a while later, somehow I don't really notice them much either.

Garrett Ellis

10-17-2009, 12:21 AM

sure. i built a TV stand for my apartment and i was 100% happy that the TV was no longer on the floor.

other than that, i'm usually satisfied if i just finish something. i know its not perfect and it neither will the next one, but it feels good to be done, learn what to do differently, and move on.

i can always chalk it up to not having good enough tools ;)

Cary Falk

10-17-2009, 12:38 AM

i can always chalk it up to not having good enough tools ;)

I used that line to justify better tools and can no longer use it to justify my mistakes.:mad::D

Bill Orbine

10-17-2009, 9:10 AM

Looks good enough to me!

Brian Kent

10-17-2009, 2:27 PM

When I visited Sam Maloof's shop, I was very happy to see a joint on one of his partly-assembled "perfect" chairs that had some fibers chipped out. I know it will be filled in with fibers and epoxy, but it was an imperfection.

It is also great to hear that George Wilson's work isn't perfect and neither is David DeCristoforo's!

It moves the bar from an imaginary "perfect" to very real "excellent" or "remarkable" or "amazing", all of which are much more fun than "perfect".

Brian

Mike Cruz

10-17-2009, 2:54 PM

I'm not pointing any fingers, but I am wondering why folks are still so hung up on talking about "perfect". That was not the OP's question. "100% Satisfaction with A project" is the question. Perfection has nothing to do with it... unless the only way for you to be 100% satisfied is with perfection, and for those, I feel badly because satisfaction will never come...as so many have pointed out that perfection is impossible.

Richard Cordery

10-17-2009, 7:13 PM

cheers on the button correct

Cliff Rohrabacher

10-17-2009, 10:21 PM

Yah the last time was the two turned apple mallets I made.
Before that it was the Marking gauge.

Most complex projects end up enforcing choices between lesser evils.

george wilson

10-17-2009, 11:00 PM

Wayne Watling

10-18-2009, 3:07 PM

The thing is,you always know that there was something,however small,that you could have done better. So,100% satisfaction really is something that is very difficult to achieve,unless your ego blinds you.

In my case I'd have to disagree with you. I've built 4 projects that I'm 100% happy with, that is with all aspects of the project. From the amount of time spent on the initial design to the quality of material and the manner in which I worked and the final result, there was nothing I regretted about those projects and nothing I could have done better.
Ego is fine as long as its not out of control.

Mike Cruz

10-19-2009, 8:15 AM

Sounds to me like ego wasn't a problem at all. If you had a big ego, you wouldn't have been satisfied. You were humble in your realization that what you did was the best that you could do...not that it was the best that anyone could do. Kudos to you.

Carlos Alden

10-19-2009, 10:52 AM

I made a mandolin about 5 years ago. I play music professionally part-time, and use this in performances and recordings. I made a ton of mistakes, covering most of them up along the way, and can point out a number of small errors, and learned so much that there are several things I would have done differently.

But she is beautiful and sturdy and sounds great. Every time I pick it up - almost daily - I am stunned that this came from my hands and heart, and to me it's the best I could do and I'm totally satisfied with the results.

Carlos

george wilson

10-19-2009, 11:04 AM

I guess it all depends upon each person'e definition of 100% satisfaction. By now I have made so many musical instruments and tools,etc.(only a very small fraction had photos made of them),that I've forgotten much of what I have made by now. So,I can't even remember what I might have been 100% satisfied with.:)

I get VERY particular about what could be considered 100% satisfaction. It took me YEARS to get into electroplating because I read that the parts had to be CHEMICALLY CLEAN,which to me seemed a hard level to reach. Now that I've done electroplating,it doesn't seem that hard to get the parts clean enough after all.

Maybe I just over define terms? It's all just in one's head,isn't it? I'll just have to admit to being a super tight a**.

mickey cassiba

10-19-2009, 8:41 PM

My '55 Harley! 110% satisfied! Unfortunately the ex spouse liked it too. And so did her new beau. Spent thirty days in the county lock-up after I caught him riding "my baby" Beat it to pieces with a 20# sledge hammer. Loaded up the pieces and took them to my ex-house and dumped them in the yard. Arrested the next day...constable let me cool off a little.
100% satisfied with the un-build too:D:D:D

Carlos Alden

10-20-2009, 12:23 PM

Paul Johnstone

10-20-2009, 3:51 PM

I'm surprised that so many are so unhappy with their work...:eek:

yep, I've come to accept that I am only human. I've been satisfied with everything I've ever made.

Sure, there's going to be a random glue spot that didn't get sanded off and creates a flaw in the finish..There's always going to be a goof or two. If you can't accept that, you are going to have a lot of angry time in the shop. I do this hobby to relax, not as some kind of competition.

cody michael

10-20-2009, 5:41 PM